Good King Henry and Red Goosefoot, Antique Botanical Print, circa 1873

An original antique color plate from Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, this sheet shows four goosefoots, among them the red goosefoot and the plant long grown in gardens as good king Henry. A crimson flowering spike of Chenopodium rubrum stands at the right of the sheet and is the one strong color on the page. Green spikes rise through the center above the large arrow shaped leaves of good king Henry, the deeply toothed fig leaved species spreads at the left, and a fine root system is drawn at the foot.

Anne Pratt's survey of the British flora appeared in six volumes from Frederick Warne and Co. of Covent Garden, London, the five volumes of flowering plants issued first and the volume of grasses, sedges and ferns added in 1873 to complete the set. Volume IV, from which this plate comes, carries 249 species printed in color, and the title page also names the New York agents Scribner, Welford and Armstrong.

Anne Pratt, born at Strood in Kent in 1806 and self taught as a botanist, was among the best known botanical illustrators in Victorian England. Her books were accurate enough to be used and plain enough to be read, and this flora stayed a standard household reference for decades. Her drawings outlived her by a long way: the fern plates from this very work were still being reused, reduced and unattributed, in pocket guides well into the twentieth century.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Slight wear at the bottom right, top left and top right corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.